Dept. of Defense to Implement New Computerized Distance System

The Department of Defense is replacing its old method of calculating mileage for transporters with a new computerized system that will provide distance information instantly, eliminating paperwork.

The new system, which is now available commercially, is expected to be less expensive and easier to use for trucking companies that do business with DOD, according to the department. DOD pays for most of these carrier services by the mile.

Starting next year, all motor carriers involved in military business will have to use the electronic system -- the Defense Table of Official Distances -- in preparing invoices for military shipments, including household goods, travel and personal property shipments. The table will be supplied by a single vendor, ALK Associates of Princeton, N.J.

The mileage table, known commercially as PCMiler, will supplant the printed Household Goods Carrier’s Bureau Committee Mileage Guide and its electronic version, Rand McNally’s TDM MileMaker System. Currently, many carriers gear driver pay and fuel and mileage tax reporting to these and other mileage systems in broad use.

Those products "are going away as far as DOD is concerned," said Sheila Parker, a DOD computer specialist. DOD has no plans to publish a paper guide, she said.

The new table arose out of efforts to create a single mileage standard for DOD-authorized shipments, according to Ethel Anderson, project manager for the Military Traffic Management Command. "We want to eliminate hard copy," she said.

Currently, transportation and finance offices must wade through 2, 352 pages in four books to find out how much to pay a moving company or DOD traveler. The books haven’t been updated since 1982, Ms. Anderson said. DOD’s intent is to create a uniform standard to provide "consistent information," she said.

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